In 2025 Germany once again met all the limits set by the current European air‑quality directive. The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) confirmed this after a preliminary review of data from roughly 600 monitoring stations. Nevertheless, the country remains far short of the World Health Organization’s stricter recommendations, which call for annual average concentrations of no more than 10 µg m⁻³ of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and 5 µg m⁻³ of fine particles (PM₂.₅).
For fine particles this is the eighth consecutive year that Germany has complied with the EU ceiling of 25 µg m⁻³. For NO₂ the 40 µg m⁻³ limit has also been met for the second year running. Still, the average levels of both pollutants in 2025 were higher than in the previous year, a trend that worries officials. UBA President Dirk Messner said: “The continued compliance with all limits shows that the positive trend of recent years continues, but further efforts are still needed to improve air quality”.
Starting in 2030 the new European directive will impose stricter, binding limits: the annual NO₂ target will drop from 40 to 20 µg m⁻³, and PM₂.₅ will fall from 25 to 10 µg m⁻³. The regulation also mandates that these limits be reviewed at the end of 2030 and every five years thereafter, with a long‑term goal of 2050 to reduce pollutants to levels that are no longer harmful to humans and the environment. Messner noted that although the new EU figures are only a step toward WHO’s more ambitious standards, every improvement lowers the overall health risk.
When 2025 data are compared with the stricter 2030 thresholds, an improvement is still required. Roughly 39 % of stations measured NO₂ above the 2030 target, and about 18 % recorded PM₂.₅ concentrations that exceed the intended limit. The UBA estimates that continued progress should make it possible for almost all pollutants to satisfy the 2030 limits, with only occasional breaches expected for NO₂ and PM₂.₅.
According to the European Environment Agency, air pollution causes about 180,000 deaths each year across the EU. For individuals with pre‑existing conditions it is vital to be promptly informed about high‑pollution episodes so they can adjust their behaviour accordingly. To support this, the UBA’s “Air Quality” app notifies users when air is unhealthy and offers health‑related tips aimed at preventing hospital admissions for heart, circulation, and respiratory conditions.
